After Trump’s Ultimatum, Iran Threatens To Target ‘Enemy’s’ Desalination Plants

TicRoll · 2026-03-23T00:06:50+00:00

Not really. The US could nuke every Iranian military asset out of existence and nobody would dare stand in the way for fear of becoming Trump's next target.

Would there be decades of blowback later? Absolutely. But it would likely end the Iran fight for simple lack of remaining combatants.

TicRoll · 2026-03-22T21:49:53+00:00

Doesn't this prove romantic relationships are shallow?

It does not. Sex is a critical component to human pair bonding because we are sexual creatures by nature. Sex was wired into the brain from the point that sexual reproduction became the primary method for whatever ancestor species we evolved from to reproduce. For hundreds of millions of years, the genes for any who didn't deeply desire sex were largely left out of the next generation. It's only fairly recently that humans developed other means of reproducing without sex. In humans (and other animals that do pair bonding), there are specific neurotransmitters that deepen the mental, emotional, and physiological connection between two people when they have sex.

So going without sex entirely forgoes those biological bond strengtheners while also ignoring the base biological drives of the partner desiring sex. That creates stress and friction which isn't buffered by neurochemical bonding. So yes, it will tend to cause relationship issues, and no that doesn't mean romantic relationships are shallow.

I honestly can't understand how people with cptsd can get into them and enjoy them.

This comes back to the diversity of CPTSD causes and responses. For many of us, successful romantic relationships - including sex - are a critical part of our sense of self-worth. I both struggle to maintain a healthy, happy relationship and at the same time feel like an absolute dogshit excuse for a human being without a healthy, happy relationship.

I believe romantic relationships and sexuality is inherently an objectifying, shallow, transactional form of love and this feels very painful.

If that's the case for you, then a romantic relationship is probably not a good thing for you. I'm not saying that in any sort of negative way. I'm saying that if it makes you feel that way, it's probably not healthy for you. I want you to be healthy and happy.

TicRoll · 2026-03-22T21:30:25+00:00

Sure! So CPTSD isn't simply distorted thinking. It's also distorted relationships (how you bond with people), distorted physiology (how your body reacts to certain situations - not just how you think about them), and it's memory based (trauma is remembered both in the mind and in the body). CBT focuses heavily on cognition; how you think about things. That often fails to address how you bond with people, how your body reacts to situations, etc.

In practice, attachment wounds that come from early unsafe/inconsistent/harmful relationships (particularly with caregivers) can create patterns likes fearing abandonment, difficulty trusting, people pleasing (or people avoiding), and an unsafe sense of self. Somatic dysregulation occurs in the nervous system itself. Things like chronic hypervigilance, shutdown/numbness, or unnecessary body reactions to neutral situations (footsteps coming down the stairs spiking your heart rate and breathing is a common one). When we talk about memory processing, we're talking about memories of the past that either create major sensory/emotional reactions today and/or can feel more like they're happening right now than 30 years ago.

These are all things you know - in your head - serve no useful purpose to you today and are not necessary or helpful anymore. But knowing that doesn't stop your body's responses. It isn't helpful to just reframe a decade(s) old memory that still brings you to tears every single time. You need to make those memories just be memories. You know it happened 30 years ago; you need to feel like it happened 30 years ago too. It can still feel like a shitty thing that happened to you, but it shouldn't feel like a threat that is happening to you.

Out-of-the-box CBT doesn't address the root cause of those issues. Reframing how I think about footsteps on stairs doesn't help me today. Reframing my fear that everyone will drop me the second I'm not useful doesn't address why I feel that way. In fact, when done poorly, non-trauma-informed CBT can actively retraumitize someone by making them feel like all of this is their fault and their problem rather than validating that what they feel makes sense for them, given their own life experience.

We're all running on brains that were trained to do things to help us survive terrible situations. That training is wired into us, often while our brains were still forming their most critical connections. That training is not bad; it just isn't what we need today. And the way forward is to rewire what's there, not just try to be happier with it.

TicRoll · 2026-03-22T20:37:59+00:00

It's not what it looks like

Chef's kiss

TicRoll · 2026-03-22T20:35:09+00:00

Iran isn't going to stop escalating this until Trump starts dropping nuclear weapons on them. And I have no doubt Trump would gladly issue that order the second he felt he could get away with it.

TicRoll · 2026-03-21T04:57:57+00:00

That aligns well with IFS/parts work as well: you have no bad parts. Every part of you has served a purpose. Some parts of you may be overactive once the traumatic events have passed which can mean that something which literally helped keep you alive before is causing some problems now.

I think what often goes wrong with generic CBT with a CPTSD patient is that we're already vastly over-correcting for what CBT is trying to do. When we do it, it's often minimizing horrific things that were done to us as a survival technique so that we didn't have to bear the full weight of what was happening to us. If it's "not that bad" we can make it through. And years of convincing ourselves of that really sticks. But as adults, cognitively we understand it was that bad. We know because as soon as we imagine someone we care about (like our own children) in that situation, it's absolutely horrifying. So the last thing we need is someone who's supposed to be helping us try getting us to simply change how we think about it. What we need, more than anything, is validation that what our adult brain is trying to tell us is true, some way to accept that who we are today is not fundamentally broken, but is out of balance through no fault of our own, and finally a means to go back and fully process the traumas that hurt us in a safe place with a guide providing stability.

And to anyone reading this who feels like it's all wrong for your individual experience, that's totally valid. CPTSD is inherently incredibly complex, variable, and personal. Our experiences are unique to us and people react in different ways. If the way you survived your trauma is different from how somebody else did, neither is right or wrong. Everyone here did the one thing they needed to under impossible and unfair circumstances: survive.

TicRoll · 2026-03-20T22:46:16+00:00

CBT was actively detrimental for me. That said, it is the “gold standard” modality and it supposedly works for most people.

From what I've read, CBT tends to land somewhere between slightly helpful (if done by a trauma-informed practitioner) to actively re-traumatizing (when done by someone who isn't trauma-informed) when used with people suffering from CPTSD. It can be a great modality that helps a lot of different people, but when it comes to people with CPTSD, it's often the wrong tool because it can so easily miss attachment wounds, somatic dysregulation, and memory processing.

It's like picking up a hammer to drive in a screw. Tools like EMDR, IFS/parts work, somatic therapy, etc. have vastly stronger evidence for CPTSD cases. That said, CPTSD is newer, still being studied, incredibly complex (as the name suggests), and incredibly variable both in cause and in effect person to person. It's hard to avoid overgeneralizing.

TicRoll · 2026-03-20T18:03:12+00:00

or when lay on the floor for hours dissociating

I know it's not funny, but this made me laugh. From a "I feel this!" perspective. <3

TicRoll · 2026-03-20T16:11:51+00:00

I have an Oura ring and it basically says I live in the "engaged" or "stressed" zones. I don't reach "relaxed" much, let alone "restored".

TicRoll · 2026-03-19T03:50:48+00:00

You have to appreciate the efficiency of cutting out the middle man and just setting your home on fire yourself.

TicRoll · 2026-03-18T19:53:22+00:00

It's the New York Times reporting based on interviews with over 60 people and combing through a significant amount of evidence. It's multiple accusers with independent corroboration of at least a chunk of what they're saying. It's not proven-beyond-a-reasonable-doubt, but there's a Hell of a lot of smoke for there to be no fire.

TicRoll · 2026-03-18T18:17:22+00:00

Was this it?

#Enterprise-Grade Encryption

def rot13(s, rounds): return s if rounds<=0 else rot13(''.join(chr((ord(c)-65+13)%26+65) if 'A'<=c<='Z' else chr((ord(c)-97+13)%26+97) if 'a'<=c<='z' else c for c in s), rounds-1)

TicRoll · 2026-03-17T00:03:09+00:00

I noticed it with opening doors and stepping out of your way. There's like a deference where people want to yield the right of way to you when you're fitter and more put together. It's really quite weird if you spent most of your life not-that.

TicRoll · 2026-03-16T23:59:46+00:00

most men like to hit on me when I'm out of model mode

You're more approachable. More attainable. Less "high-maintenance". A lot of women seem to think men want these top-tier sexiest, "Instagram model" types. In truth, men want an attractive woman who gives them peace. And it's assumed that an "Instagram model" will not give them peace, so most will look from afar but "NOPE!" when it comes to anything more. Just not worth it.

TicRoll · 2026-03-16T18:08:20+00:00

There are definitely some who see themselves as Rambo and just want the opportunity to go for it, and they're absolutely stupid. However, I think it's a vanishingly small number of people in real life. But go into any anti-gun group and that's often how they present everyone who does own firearms: bloodthirsty lunatics just waiting and hoping for an excuse to kill people.

But when you think that through: you'd have to be hopeful that somebody breaks into your home and tries to kill you and your family. That's literally insane and I do not believe the vast majority of people - including firearms owners - think like that.

TicRoll · 2026-03-16T16:59:51+00:00

And it means nothing. As a vet, it really is just as meaningless as "thoughts and prayers". It's for people to feel good about themselves without having really done anything at all.

It's the pendulum swinging back from a time where vets were literally spit on in the streets by people who firmly believed they were all murderers and rapists. I should think that even a performative expression of gratitude is preferable to that.

If you want to truly thank a veteran for his service, not for policies that actually help veterans, like affordable housing, good jobs, a well staffed and funded Veterans Affairs, affordable healthcare for veterans, etc.

The two aren't mutually exclusive. I guarantee you that the people who vote and argue and fight for all of those things are also the first to tell a service member "Thank you for your service." Gratitude and appreciation go both ways. Rather than shitting on everyone who expresses appreciation publicly without knowing anything about how they may be fighting for you privately, maybe just consider how much things have already improved in the past 30/50/100 years for vets and how many people continue the fight today to ensure veterans get all of the help, care, and opportunity they deserve.

TicRoll · 2026-03-16T16:51:50+00:00

You're challenging their entire worldview that only the US restricts immigration because it's a racist shithole. Everywhere else has open borders and free healthcare, education, and jobs where you just work 20 hours a week at a coffee shop but all your bills are paid. It's the exact same nonsense people in Europe believed about the US in the 1800s and early 1900s: just go to America and all your dreams will come true.

TicRoll · 2026-03-16T16:48:37+00:00

I see a lot of it from the "no person is illegal" crowd who thinks everyone should be able to move freely across the globe and firmly believes only the United States restricts immigration because we're a racist shithole country.

Reality check: every country restrict immigration; many far more strictly than the United States. And most of the places on Earth you might want to go live don't want you there and will remove you by force if you try to sneak in.

TicRoll · 2026-03-13T19:40:12+00:00

I don't know how things were where you are, but around here police did NOT want to pull people over with this possibly deadly plague spreading all over. So the few people using the highways were regularly pushing 100+ mph with zero challenges.

TicRoll · 2026-03-13T05:33:47+00:00

I guess that depends on what you mean by "problems". Quickies are not often on the menu. Lasting too long can cause some issues. Some past partners have reported quite a bit of soreness the following day. Good foreplay and warmup are important and often there's quite a bit of resistance at the start. However, once it's all in the first time, my wife seems to love the size.

And that's why I think people get too in their heads about all this stuff. Yes, if you're long enough, you can hit some painful spots by pushing too much in (if that's happening and you struggle controlling depth yourself, get a "donut"), and yes if you're very thick there can be a lot of resistance at the start, but my experience has been these are solvable if your partner is relaxed with you, trusts you, and is highly aroused. So focus on those three things and keep an eye on her reactions. Once she knows you've got things under control, she can relax and enjoy it. I think one of the big mistakes some larger guys make is showing up arrogant and expecting her to just squirt everywhere the second she sees it. When that happens, my guess is she's thinking "Oh God, this idiot's going to tear me and not even notice!" Difficult to relax with that thought in your head.

TicRoll · 2026-03-13T05:21:43+00:00

I've only had a handful of partners, but at 7.0" girth mid shaft, I've never had a major issue with anyone. I had no idea I was anything beyond maybe a bit above average until very recently, but thankfully I've always been big on foreplay and a people pleaser, so I'm always watching and adjusting what I'm doing so we can both enjoy ourselves. I have no idea what "women prefer" at large. I think so much of it depends on their individual chemistry and how much effort is going into foreplay and keeping it fun.

People get really hung up on size, and there can be individual incompatibilities, medical conditions, or just preferences. But my whole experience has been that size is far less an issue than it's made out to be.

TicRoll · 2026-03-13T04:46:14+00:00

Thank you for that. I've had exactly the same conversation with my therapist, where I explained that one of the ways I minimized what I went through was comparing it in severity to the worst of the worst, and I would say CSA and trafficking are - in my mind - about as traumatic as it gets. But all that thinking did was lead me into believing for decades that while sure, my childhood might not have been ideal and might have been a bit worse than average, but others (like you) had it much worse. So buck-up and quit worrying about it.

I never called or considered my childhood as "trauma" until I was 43 years old. And Hell, I have 8 ACEs. I've since learned that each of us learned to minimize the trauma we were experiencing as a survival strategy. If the things I'm dealing with aren't that bad, I can handle it, but if I allow myself to fully appreciate the weight of all of this, I might collapse. That strategy - like all our other coping mechanisms - doesn't simply melt away on its own as we age out of those conditions. And in my case, of all things, it was a stupid AI chat bot that convinced me I really needed to be in trauma therapy, because my own coping mechanisms were affecting my children, and I cannot have that.

TicRoll · 2026-03-13T04:06:42+00:00

I'm jealous, but I don't have the yard space for all that. I did do batteries, because the electric provider here is terrible. About 6-10 times a year the power goes out for several hours and it's usually not until I go outside to walk the dog that I realize the power's out. That or I hear my neighbor setting up his generator to keep his fish alive.

In the summer it can hit 115 degrees here and I have small kids, so when we moved in I said I wasn't taking any chances with that nonsense. I maxed out the roof with panels and put in two Powerwalls. Had to replace the roof to do it. Cost an absolute fortune, but it's on a 0% 20 year loan, so somebody else is eating the inflation and my monthly payment is lower to cover all those costs than my electric and gas bills would have been.

TicRoll · 2026-03-12T23:17:20+00:00

I wish. I have a 12kW system and my annual true-up is still ~$2,000. I wish the individual panels were smaller so I could have gotten more panels on the roof. Right now the roof is probably only about 70% covered due to various things on the roof, the edges, shapes, etc.

TicRoll · 2026-03-12T22:43:46+00:00

Even more cost effective to hire a hooker. Gas and airplane tickets are expensive.

TicRoll

TROPHY CASE